vehicles to technician ratio vehicles to technician ratio

In maintaining and managing a municipal fleet operation, fleet managers can take a page from the private sector's use of vehicle equivalency units to calculate the ratio of technician-to-vehicles. This question can be answered by sampling repair task times against industry labor guides (ALLDATA or Mitchell On-Demand) and/or internally established time standards. It is important that the staff listed here directly match the vehicles included in the first sheet. The More Information tab provides the Internet addresses of associations, government agencies, unions, and other organizations that can provide additional information on the occupation. Our EV Technician program is intended for students interested in improving their technical knowledge to diagnose, service and repair high voltage EVs and install . More critical skills and qualifications that pay well. Several factors impact the calculations of labor demand and supply. Technician B says that the CVT does not shift but continuously varies the gear ratio as needed to maintain optimal speed and torque. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians repair and maintain engines, hydraulic systems, transmissions, and electrical systems of agricultural, industrial, construction, and rail equipment. Fleets should outsource work that requires special tools, equipment, training; work that would tie up a mechanic or work bay for long periods of time; and work during periods of peak workload to maintain high rates of vehicle availability, said Owen. The first round of interviews was extremely detailed and covered agency profiles and service data, profiles of maintenance facilities, fleet inventories, maintenance times and requirements, maintenance workforce roles, and training practices. Which technician is correct? It contains annual hours needed for core maintenance like preventative inspections and brake relines, as well as unscheduled maintenance. Fleet managers need the flexibility to justify their staffing needs as their specific fleet requires, making proper adjustments as needed., Your email address will not be published. Previewing 48 of 59 pages. The median annual wage for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians was $53,770 in May 2021. Additional troubleshooting information here. What kind of outsource work couldnt be achieved by regular fleet staff ? Transit Cooperative Research Program. Many public transit buses are in service well beyond the FTA minimum requirement of 12 years, 500,000 miles. 50.63.164.4 679 0 obj <>stream vehicle, etc.) About the Author: Randy Owen is senior vice president of Mercury Associates Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md. Unfortunately, there is no standard formula or thumb rule to get the magic number. (T/F) True Higher compression ratios tend to speed up combustion. Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians with similar occupations. 49-3023 Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles. He was 53 years old. agency must have the appropriate number and class of vehicles to handle trip demand. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians must be familiar with diagnostic equipment to find the source of malfunctions. These numbers represent the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users. Trainees advance to more complex work as they show competence, and they usually become fully qualified after 3 to 4 years of work. They often lift heavy parts and tools, handle greasy and dirty equipment, and stand or lie in uncomfortable positions. This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians. Top Certifications Salary Job openings . Transmission Ratio RPM Calculator Determine your engine's RPM based on the transmission gear ratio, tire height, MPH, and the ratio of your ring gear and pinion gear. This sheet compares an agencys existing staffing levels to that of peer agencies. The report also documents the research team's development of an MS Excel-based Maintenance Staffing . - The effect on labour profits is then: Labour sales. This can be as specific as the agency wants, with vehicles broken down by broad category (35-foot buses, cutaway buses) all the way down to year, manufacturer, or other specifics. Less. The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Methodology This tab may also describe opportunities for part-time work, the amount and type of travel required, any safety equipment that is used, and the risk of injury that workers may face. What is the actual industry standard ratio for trucks:technicians? information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. Entering basic operations information into the calculator will provide a quick snapshot of the agency's staffing needs, but it is also possible to go into much more detail. (937) 290-0529 [email protected]. We have two full-time mechanics (one lead mechanic and one regular mechanic), and one driver who was originally hired as a mechanic but only helps out as needed now on a part-time basis. In defense of those who are asking the question, the justification of their job may come from getting maintenance managers to look closerdo a deep diveand figure out what is going on. Overtime is common. What Heavy Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Service Technicians Do, How to Become a Heavy Vehicle or Mobile Equipment Service Technician, Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers, Employment projections data for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians, 2021-31, Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, Top Picks, One Screen, Multi-Screen, and Maps, Industry Finder from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Completion of all specific company and official paperwork. There is no textbook formula for maintenance managers to determine the optimum ratio of maintenance technicians for their fleet size, as the number varies tremendously between public transit fleets. The result of this calculation for all mechanics is the number of productive hours a fleet has available. Which technician is correct? Then, additional hours must be deducted to account for time a mechanic is at work, but occupied with activities other than turning wrenches such as meetings, training, shop cleanup, etc. Physical strength. They must often disassemble major parts for repairs and be able to reassemble them. A major issue that must be confronted at this point is if historical averages are reasonable, i.e., have mechanics been efficient in the past? hb``` 0 Maintenance Staffing Calculator User Guide. Modeling the effects on staffing levels of possible changes in maintenance policy - By changing the data on routine maintenance practices, agencies can what effect these policies have on staffing. This technique establishes a relative measure that allows evaluating and comparing staffing needs between fleets of dissimilar composition. Hourly Rate. college hockey assistant coach salary; hesi exit exam score range; memorial care covid vaccine fountain valley; ellers funeral home kokomo obituaries; cierra sutton obituary Before sharing sensitive information, /Length 4010 >> About 23,900 openings for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Tech Want to read all 59 pages? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. By clicking the submit button below, you are agreeing with Bobit Business Medias Privacy Policy and this outlined level of consent. While a 70-percent of payroll hours (i.e., 1,456 hours per year) measure is a commonly used benchmark, each organization should calculate its actual performance based on detailed time-keeping records. Mercury Associates Inc. in Rockville, Md., provides comprehensive fuel and fleet management consulting services to state and local governments, federal governments and private companies. . Ou)d}`z)UYQ(VBfbMiQ8 An old fleet obviously requires more labor to keep in service than a brand new one. 15. For example, a boat trailer might be given a ratio of 0.25 VEU, meaning that it would require one-quarter the effort to maintain as a standard automobile. Owen has 20 years of experience as a fleet manager and fleet management consultant under his belt. (2016). vehicles to technician ratiodo doctors get pay for refills on prescriptions vehicles to technician ratio vehicles to technician ratio Navigation. %%EOF The type of fleet business you are in effects this number greatly. Now you can be a part of it! Discover jobs. $64 - $400. Fleet organizations with liberal leave policies and a senior staff clearly will have a lower number of available labor hours. Who is correct? The ratio of height to width. Then there are the questions involving required operational shop hours, accidents, damages, internal damages and, to some degree, the specifications of the vehicles, the number of DVIRS, type of electronic equipment. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians typically do the following: Heavy vehicles and mobile equipment are critical to many industrial activities, including construction and railroad transportation. Details about the fleet and fleet maintenance practices that can fundamentally impact the data analysis and calculations. Responsibilities for vehicle technician. The Work Environment tab includes the number of jobs held in the occupation and describes the workplace, the level of physical activity expected, and typical hours worked. According to an article by Moog Parts, rack and pinion steering works by using a gear system to translate the steering wheel's circular motion into the linear motion needed to turn the wheels. The average number of wrench-turning labor hours each mechanic on staff can produce (i.e., labor supply). Other programs, which lead to associates degrees, generally take 2 years to complete. Kenworth and Platform Science join forces to optimize fleet operations with integrated trucks and telematics. Industrial machinery mechanics, machinery maintenance workers, and millwrights install, maintain, and repair factory equipment and other industrial machinery. Video transcript available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PcpkHT8xaU. The origin web server does not have a valid SSL certificate. As the stock of heavy vehicles and mobile equipment continues to increase, more service technicians will be needed to maintain it. Projected employment of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians varies by occupation (see table). Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire. This can lead to frustration when a fleet manager attempts to justify their staffing requirements, as it is rare in my experience that municipalities and private companies meet the national averages published by industry studies. After all, talk is cheap and the trust me days of fleet management ended many years ago. A fleet of one hundred patrol cars, rated at 2.5 VEUs each, constitutes a fleet of 250 VEUs. What is the tread depth, are there recaps, what is the damage? Additionally, organizations that do not actively manage labor reporting tend to lose hours during the year. Efficiency numbers should hover around 125 percent, which means a technician working on cars for 7.2 hours in a day should produce 9 billable hours of work. 1 0 obj Input cells are clearly labeled and color-coded. Doing this may involve disassembling and reassembling major equipment or making adjustments through an onboard computer program. The technician to vehicle question is asked many times and there is always someone who will say it should be X vehicles per tech. But there is no real industry formula because there are too many variables, such as: Number of locations; use of outside vendors; PM intervals; detailed PM requirements; miles between PMs; domiciled or non-domiciled vehicles; age of the equipment; warranty work internal or external; tech experience and quality; and size of the shop. The projected percent change in employment from 2021 to 2031. Sometimes the tech has to drive two hours to swap drivers because he has run out of hours. endstream A: There are many variables when calculating the number of technicians required per number of trucks. To calculate mechanic staffing requirements, the following data and information are needed: When fleet managers talk to their boss, elected officials, budget and finance directors, or city managers about mechanic staffing requirements for their shops, it is much better to be armed with calculations resulting from a coherent quantitative methodology than relying on anecdotes and stories. In May 2021, the median annual wage for all workers was $45,760. Some service technicians travel to worksites to make repairs. The methodology is used to equate the level of effort required to maintain dissimilar types of vehicles to a passenger car, which is given a baseline VEU (sometimes called a maintenance repair unit or MRU) of 1.0. Measuring the performance of your technicians, as a whole and individually, shouldn't feel like punishment or micro-managing. The average Automotive Technician salary in the United States is $53,639 as of January 26, 2023, but the salary range typically falls between $45,872 and $61,344. Technician B says that the rear differential has a slightly higher ratio (lower number) than the front differential. CareerOneStop includes hundreds of occupational profiles with data available by state and metro area. Profit Sharing. 7 0 obj Automotive service technicians and mechanics inspect, maintain, and repair cars and light trucks. hours x 44 weeks x 107.8% overall efficiency x 60 per hour = 113,520. This one calculates the required number of hours and full time equivalent (FTE) employees and compares this data to the actual existing staffing levels. One of the best way to do it is to project the costs, divide the total dollars by two, (labor and parts average 50% each) then divide the 50% labor dollars by a fully burdened labor rate average, the calculation determines the hoursthen back into the hours of operational required. The table below provides an example calculation. The Maintenance Staffing Calculator, a user guide and a Power Point presentation summarizing TCRP Project E-10 are available on TRB.org by searching for TCRP Report 184., _________________________________________________________. The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. Whats behind the slow adoption of FA-4 oil? There was evidence that large agencies have proportionally more staff than smaller ones (likely due in part to performing more heavy repairs in house), and that more complex fleets require more maintenance. The site is secure. VEHICLE TO TECHNI C IAN RATIO This is a question asked by every fleet owner, fleet manager and workshop manager who maintain their own fleet of vehicles. We get by with what we have, but our staff is always busy. For more details about job openings for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians, consult local heavy and mobile equipment dealers and distributors, construction contractors, and government agencies. Ideally, the calculated levels should match the actual levels. endstream The average hourly pay for an Automotive Technician is $19.19. Once the labor demand is quantified, the number of productive hours available to service the fleet must be determined. The results of the existing, calculated necessary, and revised staff levels are compared side to side. Planning for necessary staffing levels - Agencies can add potential new vehicles to the inventory worksheet and see what effect this would have on required staffing. Technician a says the drive chain may be stretched, causing the noise as it hits the inside of the case. If this value is less than 1, your shop is losing money because the actual time it takes to repair a vehicle is not being invoiced properly on a regular basis. Related: Fleet Management Lessons From the Private Sector. Offered by vocational schools and community colleges, these programs cover the basics of diagnostic techniques, electronics, and other related subjects. Performs a variety of assignments such as replacement of failed parts or equipment, test, operation and maintenance of . Transit agencies replacing buses are faced with significant leaps in technology over the past 6 to 12 years and now can purchase clean diesel and hybrid engines, and choose among various alternative fuels--all of which require highly skilled technicians. (Illustration: Shutterstock & Richard Aguirre). This subject of mechanic-to-fleet ratio and related issues sparks a real interest and concern. stream The reason the question is asked often comes from managements assumption that the shop has too many peoplebecause the costs are running high. Technician B says to inflate the tires to . This level of detail proved to be difficult to collect, so the second round of interviews involved a streamlined questionnaire. Maintenance Technician Staffing Levels for Modern Public Transit Fleets. Comparing staffing levels to peer agencies - The tools main value lies in its ability to benchmark agency performance against other agencies of similar size. Service, repair and fault diagnostics work on all vehicles. The median annual wage for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians was $53,770 in May 2021. <> Benchmarking fleet age is complicated because fleet composition must be considered. Various types of equipment, such as tractors, cranes, and bulldozers, are used to haul materials, till land, lift beams, and dig earth to pave the way for development and construction. The Virtual Vehicle platform, which Platform Science says is designed to provide fleets with a range of benefits including productivity, flexibility, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, will be integrated into Kenworth's trucks to enhance the overall performance and efficiency of the vehicles. Learn more about heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians by visiting additional resources, including O*NET, a source on key characteristics of workers and occupations. endobj %PDF-1.7 The lowest 10 percent earned less than $36,900, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $78,280. Please contact your hosting provider to ensure that an up-to-date and valid SSL certificate issued by a Certificate Authority is configured for this domain name on the origin server. Senior Member, thomasvista2012 The historical demand for labor can be determined by reviewing the previous few years of maintenance records. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians must be familiar with engine components and systems and know how they interact with each other. Completing a vocational or other postsecondary training program in diesel technology or heavy equipment mechanics is increasingly considered the best preparation for some entry-level positions. Fueling: who fuels the trucks, and who puts DEF in the trucks? Technician B says the ratio is 3.86:1. Mall, K., & Sekera, J. Dexterity. They also work on smaller consumer-grade lawn and garden tractors. So you want to write for Fleet Equipment? make sure you're on a federal government site. Learn about salaries, benefits, salary satisfaction and where you could earn the most. Truck industry content for fleet owners and managers, - Detroit introduces Detroit Connect Video Capture service, - Synop, Geotab announce EV charging integration solution, - Michelin Connected Fleet delivers new suite of fleet-management solutions, Explaining the truck operating system thats spanning makes, models, The importance of flexibility in truck maintenance, ADAS in truck winterization plans, Geotab, Cummins partner to enhance OTA connectivity, Maintenance to keep your heavy-duty truck wheels going round and round, Inside the intelligence that powers truck powertrain efficiency, Setting heavy-duty truck service benchmarks, Freightliner M2, SD Plus Series launch updates its medium-duty truck offering, Truck cruise control technology that looks at the road ahead, Four ways A.I. Put simply, using VEUs means adding up how many sedans and sedan equivalencies an agency has in order to determine how many mechanics need to be hired. The calculator can help agencies perform three mains tasks: The calculator can be used by all sorts of agencies; survey participants had fleet sizes ranging from 10 vehicles to more than 1,000. For example, if historical labor hours for a class of 10 dump trucks were 400 per year, the average labor demand per year for each vehicle in this class is 40. Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians inspect, maintain, and repair vehicles and machinery used in construction, farming, and other industries. . Bookmark +. The Maintenance Staffing Calculator is an Excel tool consisting of seven worksheets. Imperial Metric Vehicle speed in MPH The following are examples of types of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians: Farm equipment mechanics and service technicians service and repair farm equipment, such as tractors and harvesters. An example of challenges would be the difficulty of assigning a baseline average for the time required to complete specific tasks. Many government organizations do not have a methodology to determine how many mechanics are required to maintain their fleet. Senior Member. Comments are moderated and may not appear for 24 hours or more. The data is broken down into statistics like vehicles maintained per technician, FTE technicians per vehicle, and annual maintenance hours per 10,000 vehicle miles. <>/ExtGState <>/ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI ] This process involves calculating the number of annual hours available to mechanics to devote to wrench-turning activities. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. About 23,900 openings for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. This tab also covers different types of occupational specialties. and current staffing ratios (i.e., vehicles maintained per technician, vehicle miles per technician, etc.). Technology Maintenance Council,(new name for. Contact Steve Hirano at [email protected]. Mobile heavy equipment mechanics repair and maintain construction and surface mining equipment, such as bulldozers, cranes, graders, and excavators. #)1Qt ehY,SpRm @@@:{7fc`g~ T!u _q . So, if you have . What we used to accept as reasonable ratios no longer applies. If someone determines that the body count is too high, you may be asked to defend your staff. The results of this research provides a resource to help maintenance managers evaluate staffing requirements to maintain an aging, high-mileage fleet or to transition into new technology hybrid or battery-powered engines. stream Labor supply is 10. $13 - $30. These service technicians use diagnostic computers and equipment to identify problems and make adjustments or repairs. <> The .gov means it's official. hours x 44 weeks x 95% utilisation x 12 per hour = 20,064 Gross profit on labour sales (Labour gross profit) = 93,456. 6 0 obj The How to Become One tab describes how to prepare for a job in the occupation. endobj Mechanics who work primarily on automobiles are described in the profile on automotive service technicians and mechanics. Geotab says this tool enhances data analysis and automated reporting capabilities. Hours Invoiced / Hours Worked = X Goal: Greater than 1. It may also be used as a predictive tool, to determine staffing needs during the vehicle procurement process. And the number of additional vehicles required for maintenance activities can be minimized by scheduling most maintenance activities during non-peak vehicle periods. The number of maintenance technicians at a transit agency is based on financial constraints, fleet age, annual miles, powertrain type, how much work is outsourced, and a multitude of other key factors. Change is coming to U.S. energy policies Tim joined Babcox Media in 1990 and spent 31. TCRP Report 184: Maintenance Technician Staffing Levels for Modern Public Transit Fleets, identifies existing tools and practices used to determine optimum maintenance technician staffing levels and provides an analysis of variables that influence maintenance technician staffing needs. An official website of the United States government <> Bonus. Save Your Own. attacks or slurs, hate speech, demonstrably false information, excessive profanity, or that are thinly veiled promotions for a product, will not be approved. >>/Group <> We're Not Just Extrication. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Staffing to the peaks rather than valleys in the workload demand is never a good idea. Performance & security by Cloudflare. One VEU is equal to 1015 labor hours, with technicians being assigned 100120 VEUs. (2016). To investigate these discrepancies, the research team conducted two rounds of interviews with transit agencies. One VEU is equal to 1015 labor hours, with technicians being assigned 100120 VEUs; but these calculations do not include nonroutine work, he said. For more information about careers and training programs, visit, National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation, National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians, Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines. By taking an approach that is less focused on the VEU model and more concentrated on our people, their known abilities and anticipated workload, we have found more value in not utilizing the VEU model to justify staffing requirements but rather empower managers to justify staffing in relationship to the enterprises needs. As a former cop who spent a number of years managing, and is now doing driving / training for the past year and a half in my retirement, I've relished the opportunity to work in and learn about this great service industry. However, high school graduates often need further training to become fully qualified. At the end of the day, the ideal is the fewest techs, a simplified program with no complicated proceduresand no delays related to busy work. In addition, equipment should not be over-maintained, such technicians being taken off maintenance to do: Yard checks; snow plowing; cutting the grass; polishing my boat; washing someones car; or other non-essential tasks that take away from the maintenance jobs at hand. Median annual wages for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians in May 2021 were as follows: In May 2021, the median annual wages for heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians in the top industries in which they worked were as follows: Percent change in employment, projected 2021-31, Note: All Occupations includes all occupations in the U.S. Economy.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program. Tire inflation is very important to the safe and economical operation of any vehicle. These next two worksheets present the results of the tools calculations. According to Randy Owen, senior vice president and co-founder, using VEUs allows fleet managers to justify staffing requirements through a quantitative process, rather than experience alone. Serving Car & Truck Fleet Management Professionals, Serving EV Intenders & Professionals In Commercial & Public Fleets, Serving Corporate, Executive, & Financial Managers Of Large Commercial Fleets, Serving Leaders In Fleet Mobility & Emerging Technology, Serving Public Sector Fleet Professionals, Serving Medium & Heavy Duty Commercial Truck Professionals, Serving Transit Bus, Private Motorcoach, & Passenger Rail Professionals, Serving School & Pupil Transportation Fleet Professionals, Serving Vocational & Service Fleet Professionals. Fleet Management Lessons From the Private Sector. endobj High school courses in automotive repair, electronics, physics, and welding provide a strong foundation for a service technicians career. 929 0 obj <> endobj In this example, the labor demand is 10.3 mechanics (14,950 total annual demand for labor hours divided by 1,456 average labor hours available per mechanic.) Other elements that impact labor demand include usage levels, operating environment, and fleet assignment practices (i.e.